No Guarantees for upcoming packer free agents

From Packernews:
As veteran right tackle Mark Tauscher hobbled off the field on Sunday, his season over and free-agent prospects dimmed by a major knee injury, Green Bay Packers defensive end Michael Montgomery watched from the sideline, knowing well it could have been him.
Advertisement

“I know where he’s coming from,” Montgomery said in the Packers’ locker room on Thursday. “You go all out every game, and something like that can happen. So, I know what he’s going through. I just try to protect myself out there, practice and games, because you never know.”

The three Packers who are eligible for unrestricted free agency after the season — Tauscher, Montgomery and defensive tackle Colin Cole — each have spent at least four seasons here. Each has developed a degree of loyalty toward an organization that’s stuck with them through past injuries.

But like any free agent-to-be on a team with slim or no playoff hopes, Montgomery and Cole — role players who have gotten more action this season because of health issues along the Packers’ defensive line — are playing out the string with no guarantees and their professional futures riding less on whether they play well than whether they avoid the big injury the next three weeks.

“There’s nothing I can do, besides my play on the field, and I don’t think that even matters at this point,” Cole said. “I think this team, as well as any other team, knows what they want out of a guy, and if I fit that mold, it is what it is.”

The Packers have had preliminary talks with Montgomery’s agent, Brian Overstreet, who on Thursday characterized the conversations as “just both of us showing a commitment — us wanting to be there and them wanting him there.”

Cole said he’s unaware of any discussion between the Packers and his agent, Neil Cornrich, who also represents Tauscher.

“Speaking with one or two other guys, they do talk to guys beforehand,” Cole said, “but I think I’m a case that they probably won’t.”

The Packers also have seven players who can become restricted free agents — safety Atari Bigby, fullback John Kuhn, receivers Ruvell Martin and Shaun Bodiford, cornerback Jarrett Bush, tight end Tory Humphrey and end Jason Hunter.

Bigby would have been the most likely to draw interest from other teams had he repeated his stellar 2007 campaign, but he’s battled ankle and hamstring injuries in a lost season. The others are backups, role players and special teamers.

“Every time you step on the field, you’re interviewing for a job, even during practice,” Bush said. “You can’t really get ahead of yourself. Just keep playing. You’ve got three games. Play ’em now.”

This year’s group pales in comparison to the following year’s crop of potential free agents.

Quarterback Aaron Rodgers was the group’s most prominent member until late October, when he signed a contract through 2014 that averages $12.7 million per year in new money.

But receiver Greg Jennings leads a long list of starters and other key contributors who remain unsigned beyond next season — among them, left tackle Chad Clifton, left end Aaron Kampman, defensive tackles Ryan Pickett and Johnny Jolly, safety Nick Collins, guards Daryn Colledge and Jason Spitz, return specialist Will Blackmon and linebacker Brandon Chillar. No. 3 cornerback Tramon Williams, the lone exclusive-rights player with an expiring contract this year, might draw interest as a restricted free agent, too.

“I know that there is a certain amount that they have to work with,” said Cole, on whom the Packers last winter placed the second-round tender ($1.417 million) to discourage other teams from signing him as a restricted free agent.

“I definitely know that they want me here, (but) only time will tell. Over these next couple weeks, I’ll just work my tail off, and hopefully, I’ll show them enough for them to want to invest in me being a part of the future of the franchise.”

Whether the Packers will try to re-sign Tauscher is a more complicated issue, because he faces a lengthy rehabilitation process following his upcoming surgery for a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.

Before the injury, Tauscher was in line for a multiyear deal, and outside interest might have put him out of the Packers’ price range. Now, he’s a 31-year-old coming off a second ACL surgery — he tore up the same knee in 2002 — and he might be resigned to taking a short-term, low-risk deal for 2009.

If the same sort of injury befell a less-established player like Montgomery, it could be a struggle to get any offer at all.

“Oh yeah, it enters my mind,” said Montgomery, who missed chunks of the past two seasons with knee injuries.

“But I just try not to think about that stuff and play hard every time I’m out there.”

I would like to see Tauscher resigned to at least a one year deal for insurance. Getting a deal done with Jennings and Tramon Williams get done soon . The way our defensive line played this year I think moving in another direction is not out of the question...TT most likely feels otherwise.
LOL.

I would like to see Tauscher resigned to at least a one year deal for insurance. Getting a deal done with Jennings and Tramon Williams get done soon . The way our defensive line played this year I think moving in another direction is not out of the question...TT most likely feels otherwise.
LOL.